1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the use of clamps for mounting and positioning cords with lockable stubs on the sides of an automobile body to protect the automobile body from damage, such as marks, scratches and dents, caused by operators and passengers of other automobiles opening doors and striking the sides of the automobile equipped with the present invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When parked in parallel fashion in parking lots, the sides of automobile bodies are often damaged by the careless opening of the doors of adjacently parked automobiles. To protect the sides of some automobiles from such damage, manufacturers have positioned on the sides strips of protective molding. Often such protective molding is fabricated of plastic, and is attached to the sides of the automobile by multiple clipping devices. Since the protective molding is essentially permanently attached to the side of the automobile, its position on the side of the automobile and its width and extension from the side of the automobile are in part determined by the aesthetic contribution of the protective molding to the appearance of the automobile. Therefore, in almost all cases the appearance of the automobile imposes design constraints which severely restrict the protective capabilities of such moldings. Such design constraints often result in the molding being too narrow, and not having the molding protrude far enough from the sides of the automobile to accommodate automobile doors which do not initially impact the side of the automobile at the location of the protective molding.
Furthermore, many automobiles, especially the more expensive sport type automobiles, are manufactured without protective molding. Often such absence of permanent protective molding is dictated by aesthetic appearance considerations.
Prior removable protective devices which have been proposed to protect the sides of automobile bodies from door damage include the stretching of a wire rope along the sides of an automobile body, with one end of the wire rope attached to one of the automobile's bumpers and the other end of the wire rope attached to the other bumper. The use of a standoff center post and the tension of the mounted wire rope are intended to protect the side of the automobile body. A removable protective device of this general type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,507. Other previously proposed temporarily attached protective devices utilize bumper like continuous tubes or interconnected tube sections which are attached to the sides of an automobile body by hooks positioned at the edges of doors or wheel wells. Some of these devices incorporate elongated attachments which can be wedged between a closed automobile door and the automobile body so that the protective device cannot be removed until the door is opened. Examples of these latter type of devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,889,165 and 4,002,363.
Among the problems associated with the prior removable protective devices are: (1) complexity in the method of installation on the side of the automobile body, for example, devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,507; and (2) the limited capability to optimize the positioning of the devices to protect the sides of the automobile. This second disadvantage results from the fixed relationship of bumpers to the contours of the automobile sides, and the fact that wheel wells have curved lips as opposed to straight lips which means that hooks will only be retained at certain positions and not at others such as the top of wheel wells. Therefore, protection provided by prior removable devices can be severely, if not in many cases completely non-existent, because the side of the automobile and not the attached device absorbs the impact of doors opened against the side of the automobile. Further, certain prior devices only protect limited portions of automobile sides, such as only the doors and not the fenders.